Annette is an apparel company, run by Sharon Singer, that creates “the only adjustable shapewear that allows you to decide the degree of comfort.”  They were kind enough to send me two samples of their Diva Defined line–and at $50 a pop (score!)–I promised to try them on for at least 2 seconds.  Although I did not know that I was a diva, or that I needed even more defining, let’s just say that it’s been roughly 72 hours since I’ve put one on and it’s NOT coming off.

I got the “Boy Short” in black and the “Long Leg” in Nude.  Each is similar to Spanx in that it hugs your soft bits tightly for you.  But, two pieces of fabric are sewn into the back that act much like the back of your bra: you can tighten and loosen the band around your waist to suit your activity’s needs. In writing, the imagery does not work–they do not think that women who need this product have breasts on their stomachs.  But holding the thing, it makes complete sense.  For the 422nd time in my life, I found myself going, “Why didn’t I think of that first?”

Standing in my kitchen, I threw on the “Boy Short” sample because it looked quite similar to my bike shorts.  Didn’t really do the trick.  It was way shorter than my bike shorts, so much so that it squeezed love handles out of my inner thighs that I did not know I had.  Hello, new complex.

The “Long Leg” was next.  Can you legally marry clothing?  Lucky for the good folks at Annette, I am their prime target since I’m five months postpartum.  And this bike-shorts-meets-waist-flattener is perfection. After a few days of walking around in it, the only serious problem I’ve found is forgetting to put pants over it before leaving the house.  It doesn’t just hold my extras in.  It cradles every inch of my skin.  It wraps love and goodness around the more substantive areas.  Thank you, people of Annette, for creating a great product.

I mean, don’t I look great in the picture above?

Douglas C. Merrill told me (in his Getting Organized In The Google Era) that if I use a search term like “momtrepreneur” or “mompreneur” in a post several times, you will be much more likely to pull my momtrepreneur site up to the top of mompreneurially-minded search results.

Just wanted send you a brief note about the fact that as a momtrepreneur myself, I would momtrepreneurially appreciate your finding my momtrepreneur site that encourages momtrepreneurship for all momtrepreneurs and mompreneurs.

Momtrepreneurially yours,

The Momtrepreneur Maven.

P.S. Momtrepreneur.

I sold out to The Man and got me some free samples of OxiClean’s new Max Force Power Paks and Gel Sticks.  Why?  Because I love taking things from The Man and giving them a woman’s touch?  Because corporate giants could learn a thing or two from us momtrepreneurs?  Because I can?

No, fools.  Because I have some seriously backlogged laundry to do.

Other than the superpowered hyperbole of a product name, I ended up loving the Power Paks so much that I did a record amount of laundry this week.  After folding so much clean clothing (and with gusto!), my husband–in a state of shock–asked how I suddenly had so much time to do the laundry.  I didn’t.  But new products are fun, right?

Think of the Power Pak as your personal laundry basketball.  You can stand from 20 feet from the washing machine and throw it right into the wash.  The Gel Stick proves to be more a bit more work — it’s like putting deodorant on the outside of your clothing — and after my daughter had dipped her sleeves into the muddiest mud of muds, the Gel Stick provided optimism but did not pan out.

OxiClean could one-up its Power Paks by providing actual detergent in the Paks and not making it a separate detergent booster.  Besides that, my family is looking and smelling better than we have in a very, very long while.  Sadly for us, it’s time for this momtrepreneur to get back to work.

http://www.relishrelish.com

I signed up and have been trying it out for a little while.  Literally EVERY meal that I’ve made and eaten so far has been super easy and absolutely delectable.  (I know, I sound like a spokesperson for the company–I swear I’m not.)

Why is it awesome?

1. Upon signing into the site, you pick your week’s worth of recipes from a menu that changes weekly.

2. You can choose the # of portions you want to cook and it will change up the portions for you.

3. It collects an Ingredients List and all the recipes into a printable pdf.

4. 5 dinners is under $85 in groceries.  Each dinner takes 30 minutes or less to make.

Seriously, it’s been too good to be true.  And since I know that most of us don’t have time to cook during the week, this helps tremendously.

Oh!  Coupon code “dinner” lets you try it free for a week.  Relish THAT.

I was just profiled in a brand new book.  A Cup of Cappucino For The Entrepreneur’s Spirit (Vol II) is now published and on sale thanks to the wonderful folks (especially Cindy Thompson) at Entrepreneur Enterprises.  It’s chock full of stories by and about entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes.  Makes for an interesting read over the holiday season–you can revv up on your momtrepreneurial spirit by checking out these profiles!

Happy Holidays, all.

It’s a huge collection of thoughts on things to do and think about this year…a nice recap from some serious players in the blogging world.  Enjoy.

I’d asked the company, once I perused the program, if I was missing something–I didn’t know if there was an interactive portion along with the site recommendations.  They said:  “The idea behind this particular product came from our customers. We knew from our popular resource section in Business Plan Pro that people were looking for services and products they could trust and would be essential to their business success.  So, we contacted several existing partners and quite a few new ones to put together a “tool box” of offers – free and discounted – to help small and medium businesses. We grouped them into sections we thought would be more helpful for different advents of a business. Those starting out, those running a business and those in a growth mode.”

How clever are they?  I obviously needed the “grow” section of their program and found myself clicking away throughout it.

The downside to investing in a program like this appeared initially to be that I would only use 1/3rd of their offerings–but as I started thinking about it, I clicked on the “start” section and noticed an abundance of opportunities that I hadn’t considered when I did start my companies.  (An eye-opener, really).

Do you want to try a copy?  The three people to post a comment here about one of the links in this post will be mailed a FREE copy!

Last week I received a huge tin of popcorn from The Popcorn Factory, a Cheryl&Co. cookie and brownie, and truffles from none other than Fannie May.  Why?  Because someone at these companies saw my name on a list likely titled Those Who Must Pre-Load On Treats Before Actual Holidays.  (Note to food companies:  this is the only type of spam that I welcome.)

Buy these for your employees this year.  They’re small treats, affordable enough, and the kind that you don’t even realize you’ve finished until you look down at your desk and get really mad and start shouting, “WHERE IS THAT BROWNIE?” and blame everyone in your family even though none of them are home.  My order of preference?  Eat the cookie and brownie first, followed by 3 truffles (per day) and finish off with at least 5 handfuls of popcorn per night.

Truffle assortment gift boxes cost $17.99 to start, Buttercream Frosted Brownies start at $28.95, and that dang popcorn tin is only $24.99.  (Use promo code P70 whe ordering from The Popcorn Factory and you’ll get $5 off.)

(NOTE TO BALLY‘S:  PLEASE CONTACT ME IN JANUARY.)

To my surprise, Deutsch’s collection of success stories was inspiring.  From Alton Brown to Miley Cyrus to Martha Stewart to Spanx’s Sara Blakely, he succinctly writes about the biggest names entrepreneurial success stories.  But he does so in a way that does not distance these superstars’ stories from our own.  Deutsch turns each of them into real people and actually had me making notes like, “how to get Tarte Cosmetics‘ distribution” and “change the world like TOMS Shoes.”

I did spent the last two months reading through about 20 different business books — and while it still pains me to write it, this book was one of my faves.  Read through the hokey bits to the real life stories and tell me if they inspire you, too.

(By the way, kudos to Catherine Whitney whose name is on the cover and who I’m guessing co-wrote the book–I don’t know who she is but further proof that behind every great man is a greater woman.)